8 Movie Trilogies Where The 3rd Movie Is The Best
Since 2019, Kevin Erdmann has been one of Screen Rant's Senior Staff Writers, covering all kinds of Superhero and Star Wars media with Easter egg breakdowns, theory pieces, breaking news, and more. A huge Star Wars & MCU fan, Kevin also loves Batman (because he's Batman), but could talk for hours about why Nightwing is DC's greatest hero.
With 8 years of total experience covering entertainment and pop culture, Kevin has gotten the chance to interview top creatives and talent, and has also attended major media events like Disney's D23 convention.
Majoring in Cinema Studies with a minor in Comics and Cartoon Studies from the UofO, Kevin lives in Oregon with his wonderful wife, adorable dog, and sinister cat who is no doubt currently plotting his demise.
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It's rare to find a movie where the third movie is objectively its best. More often than not, these are the ones tasked with providing a satisfying conclusion while building on everything from the previous two chapters. From Return of the King to Toy Story 3, it's no small feat when a trilogy-ender ends up becoming better than its predecessors.
Some of the greatest third movies in cinema (typically blockbusters) have become defining peaks in their franchises, whether by bringing various characters together for a massive culminating final act or featuring emotionally devastating/satisfying endings.
Keeping that in mind, here are 8 of the biggest and best movie trilogies where the third movie is definitively the very best of its respective trio.
Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade (1989)
Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the best introductions to an action-adventure hero of all time. The Temple of Doom is almost as fun, with its darker narratives and beloved characters like Short Round. However, it's widely understood that The Last Crusade nailed and perfected the Indiana Jones formula on several levels.
The addition of Sean Connery as Henry Jones Sr. was inspired, giving Harrison Ford's Indy the best possible foil, with some incredible chemistry as an estranged father and son brought together to find one of the coolest artifacts in the entire franchise. Featuring some of the franchise's very best set pieces and action sequences, The Last Crusade absolutely delivers as a peak trilogy-ender.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring gave us an excellent introduction to Middle-earth and its characters, as well as some of the very best sequences, like Gandalf's last stand against the Balrog. Likewise, The Two Towers' Battle of Helm's Deep is one of the most epic and emotional clashes in the entire franchise. However, you can't go wrong arguing that The Return of the King is the very best entry.
Not only does Frodo and Sam's journey come to an epic end at Mount Doom, but Aragorn finally accepts his destiny as Gondor's next king, leading the charge against Sauron in a final confrontation that sees the Great Eye meeting its demise. So many characters receive significant conclusions, and the Battle of Pelennor Fields remains one of the greatest fantasy battles in cinematic history, with its colossal war-oliphaunts, the Witch-king of Angmar, and legions of the undead in service to Aragorn himself. With 11 Academy Award wins, including the Oscar for Best Picture, Return of the King also surpassed its predecessors critically.
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)
While the best film in the original Star Wars trilogy is arguably The Empire Strikes Back and The Force Awakens for the sequels, it's definitely Revenge of the Sith for the prequels. Detailing Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side and rise as Darth Vader, Revenge of the Sith does an exceptional job tying Episodes I-III to the events of the original trilogy, with the Republic transforming into the Galactic Empire in the wake of the Clone Wars.
Featuring the largest action sequences as well as the most devastating character moments, everything pays off in Revenge of the Sith, especially as the last of the live-action Star Wars movies from George Lucas. While Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones are entertaining and significant in their own right, Revenge of the Sith certainly stands above as the best of the prequel trio.
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are some of Pixar's greatest movies of all time. However, the third installment is a cut above as the most powerful emotional experience, having made incredible use of fans' years of investment in these characters from 1995-2010. With Andy now grown up and ready to leave his toys behind, the entire plot of Toy Story 3 is one big emotional culmination that doesn't pull any punches with its themes about childhood, embracing change, and learning to let go.
Few animated sequels have delivered such an incredible ending, so much so that many Toy Story fans would have preferred the franchise to end right then and there (despite the great moments found in Toy Story 4 and Toy Story 5).
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
2011's Captain America: The First Avenger introduced Steve Rogers and his origins in WWII, as well as the events that led to the Super Soldier being frozen and waking up in the present-day MCU. Following his key role in 2012's The Avengers, 2014's The Winter Soldier challenged Rogers' values with a major political conspiracy involving SHIELD and Hydra, which completely changed the status quo of the MCU.
From “I Am Iron Man” to “I Am Inevitable” · Eight Questions How Well Do You Know the MCU? “Whatever it takes.”
🤖Phase OneRDJ & the founders, 2008
🛡The AvengersWhedon’s team, 2012
💎Infinity SagaThanos & the stones
⚡EndgameWhatever it takes, 2019
🌏MultiversePhase 4–6, 2021–
01
Iron Man (2008) is, in retrospect, the most consequential casting decision in modern blockbuster history — but at the time Marvel Studios and parent company Paramount were openly hostile to director Jon Favreau’s push for the lead actor he eventually got. Favreau later said he had to fight “tooth and nail” and the actor had to do a paid screen test, a screen-test deal almost unheard of for an A-lister. What was the executive objection to him?
✓ Correct! Robert Downey Jr. had been arrested multiple times between 1996 and 2001 on drug and weapons charges, served roughly a year in California state prison (1999–2000), and was fired from Ally McBeal in 2001 after relapsing. By 2007 he’d been clean for several years, but Marvel/Paramount considered him essentially uninsurable for a $140 million tent-pole. Favreau pushed for him over studio favourites Tom Cruise (who’d had Iron Man development at Fox years earlier) and Sam Rockwell (who’d later play Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2 as a consolation). RDJ took a reported $500,000 base salary — less than Terrence Howard, whose role he then permanently overshadowed.
✗ Wrong. The answer is his arrest history. RDJ had drug-related arrests from 1996–2001, served prison time in 1999–2000, and was fired from Ally McBeal in 2001 — which made him uninsurable in studio terms even though he’d been sober for several years by 2007. Favreau fought for him over Tom Cruise and Sam Rockwell, and RDJ took a reported $500,000 base salary — less than co-star Terrence Howard.
02
The Avengers (2012) — the film that proved the shared-universe model could work, grossed $1.52 billion, and ended Phase One with Loki, Thanos’s mid-credits reveal, and the “swarm shot” of the team rotating in Manhattan — was written and directed by a TV showrunner best known at the time for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly. Name him.
✓ Correct! Joss Whedon. Marvel hired him in mid-2010 partly on the basis of his uncredited script rewrites and his comfort writing ensemble team dynamics from Buffy/Angel/Firefly. He directed The Avengers (2012) and the follow-up Age of Ultron (2015), then exited the MCU and Marvel handed the next two Avengers films to the Russo brothers. The three other directors named all really did make Phase One films: Favreau directed Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010), Branagh directed Thor (2011), and Joe Johnston directed Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) — which is why this question separates Phase One trivia from Avengers-specific trivia.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Joss Whedon — hired largely on the strength of Buffy, Firefly, and uncredited Hollywood script work. The three wrong options are deliberately all real Phase One MCU directors: Favreau did Iron Man 1 & 2, Branagh did Thor (2011), and Joe Johnston did The First Avenger (2011). Whedon directed Avengers (2012) and Age of Ultron (2015) before exiting the MCU.
03
Marvel co-architect Stan Lee (1922–2018) appeared in every theatrical MCU film from Iron Man (2008) onward, even shooting cameos in advance to outlast him. He died on November 12, 2018. In which film does his final filmed MCU cameo appear — as the long-haired young driver of a 1970 car bearing the bumper sticker “NUFF SAID”?
✓ Correct! Avengers: Endgame (April 2019). Lee appears digitally de-aged behind the wheel of a 1970 Chevy at the New Jersey army base where Tony Stark and Steve Rogers travel back to retrieve the Tesseract; he shouts “hey man, make love, not war!” The cameo was filmed before Lee’s death and confirmed by the Russos as his final filmed MCU appearance, although the next-released film, Spider-Man: Far From Home (July 2019), became the first MCU film with no Stan Lee cameo at all. Captain Marvel (March 2019) has him reading the script for Mallrats on the L.A. train and was the first posthumously-released cameo, but Endgame was the last one he actually shot.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Avengers: Endgame — the de-aged hippie-era driver in the 1970 New Jersey time-heist scene. Captain Marvel (March 2019) was the first cameo to release posthumously, but Endgame (April 2019) was the last one Lee actually filmed. Spider-Man: Far From Home (July 2019) became the first MCU film with no Stan Lee cameo at all.
04
Across Phase One through Three, each Infinity Stone is hidden inside a distinctive container before being claimed for Thanos’s Gauntlet. The blue Space Stone is housed inside a glowing cube that originates with the Asgardians, is recovered by Howard Stark from the wreckage of the Red Skull’s plane, is taken to Asgard by Loki in 2012, and is finally retrieved by Hulk on Sakaar before falling to Thanos. What is that container called?
✓ Correct! The Tesseract — the blue cube that houses the Space Stone — first appears in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), powers the portal Loki opens over Manhattan in The Avengers (2012), and is destroyed by Thanos in Infinity War (2018) when he crushes it to claim the stone inside. The wrong options are all real Infinity Stone containers from the MCU: the Aether (red liquid form) houses the Reality Stone in Thor: The Dark World, the Orb houses the Power Stone in Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Eye of Agamotto houses the Time Stone in Doctor Strange. So all four answers refer to genuine stone containers — only the Tesseract holds Space.
✗ Wrong. The answer is the Tesseract. The trap is that all four options are real Infinity Stone containers: the Aether holds Reality (Thor: The Dark World), the Orb holds Power (Guardians of the Galaxy), and the Eye of Agamotto holds Time (Doctor Strange). Space — the blue stone shown in Cap’s 1942 plane wreckage and Loki’s 2012 invasion — is the Tesseract.
05
In Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the Soul Stone is hidden on Vormir and guarded by a Stonekeeper — revealed to be a cursed Red Skull. To claim it, the seeker must sacrifice the person they love most by throwing them from a cliff. Thanos arrives on Vormir with one adopted daughter, weeps, and pushes her over the edge. Which character does Thanos sacrifice to obtain the Soul Stone?
✓ Correct! Gamora (Zoe Saldaña). Thanos forces her to lead him to Vormir because Nebula has earlier revealed under torture that Gamora knew the Soul Stone’s location all along. The scene is the emotional pivot of Infinity War: it confirms that Thanos really does love Gamora, which means the sacrifice qualifies. In Endgame (2019), a 2014 version of Gamora returns through time travel with her father — meaning Gamora-of-Infinity-War remains dead at the end of the saga, while a different Gamora wanders the cosmos in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Nebula is alive throughout Infinity War; Mantis survives Vormir entirely; Proxima Midnight is one of Thanos’s Black Order children, killed in the Battle of Wakanda.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Gamora. Nebula is alive throughout Infinity War (she’s the one whose torture reveals Gamora knew where the stone was hidden). Mantis isn’t on Vormir. Proxima Midnight is Thanos’s adopted daughter via the Black Order, not via Zen-Whoberi, and is killed during the Battle of Wakanda by Scarlet Witch. Thanos sacrifices Gamora — the only adopted daughter he genuinely loves.
06
In Avengers: Endgame (2019), Steve Rogers travels back in time to return the Infinity Stones, then chooses to remain in the past and live out a life with Peggy Carter. He returns to the present as an old man, sits on a bench by the lake at the Avengers compound, and hands his vibranium shield to a younger Avenger as the symbolic transfer of the Captain America identity. To whom does Steve give the shield?
✓ Correct! Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) — the Falcon. The choice deliberately bypasses Bucky, the original comics successor, because the Russos and screenwriters Markus & McFeely wanted the moment to read as a deliberate, racially-charged passing of an American icon rather than the obvious comics-canon handoff. The thread is then picked up directly in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+, 2021), in which Sam initially gives the shield to the Smithsonian, sees the government install John Walker as a replacement Cap, and ultimately takes the mantle himself — setting up Captain America: Brave New World (2025) with Mackie as the franchise’s new lead.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Sam Wilson, the Falcon. In the comics Bucky is the classic Cap successor, but the Russos and screenwriters Markus and McFeely deliberately picked Sam instead — a choice the entire Falcon and the Winter Soldier series (Disney+, 2021) then unpacks before Mackie carries it into Captain America: Brave New World (2025).
07
After Endgame, Marvel Studios’ Phase Four launched the MCU on Disney+ with a sitcom-pastiche limited series in which Wanda Maximoff and a resurrected Vision live inside a reality-warping suburban hex. Each episode parodied a different era of US TV sitcom — The Dick Van Dyke Show, Bewitched, Family Ties, Modern Family. The show premiered January 15, 2021 and ran nine episodes. Which series was it — the first MCU project on Disney+?
✓ Correct! WandaVision (January 15 – March 5, 2021), created by Jac Schaeffer and directed by Matt Shakman. It launched Phase Four, earned 23 Emmy nominations, and effectively rebooted Wanda Maximoff as the Scarlet Witch ahead of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). The Falcon and the Winter Soldier followed it in March 2021 — not first — and Loki landed in June 2021. Hawkeye is the 2021 Christmas series with Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld. The original launch order was WandaVision → FATWS → Loki → What If...? → Hawkeye, and WandaVision’s sitcom format remains the boldest swing of the Disney+ era.
✗ Wrong. The answer is WandaVision (January 15, 2021), the first MCU show on Disney+ and the launchpad for Phase Four. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier came in March 2021, Loki in June 2021, and Hawkeye in late 2021. The sitcom-pastiche structure — Dick Van Dyke through Modern Family — is unique to WandaVision.
08
At the closing panel of San Diego Comic-Con on July 27, 2024, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige brought the Russo brothers back on stage to announce a new title for the next Avengers film — previously labelled “The Kang Dynasty” before Jonathan Majors’s December 2023 conviction forced a pivot — and then unmasked a cast of actors wearing green hoods. The final hood came off Robert Downey Jr. RDJ is returning to the MCU, but not as Tony Stark. As whom?
✓ Correct! Doctor Doom — Victor von Doom, the Latverian dictator and Reed Richards’s lifelong nemesis, generally considered Marvel’s greatest comics villain. The next Avengers film, originally announced as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, was retitled Avengers: Doomsday after Jonathan Majors was dropped as Kang following his December 2023 assault conviction. Doomsday is scheduled for May 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars to follow in May 2027 — both directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, returning to the MCU after Endgame. The in-universe explanation for RDJ playing Doom rather than Stark hinges on the multiverse: Doom is being positioned as a variant of Stark from another timeline.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Doctor Doom. The film was retitled from Avengers: The Kang Dynasty to Avengers: Doomsday (May 2026) after Jonathan Majors was dropped, and the Russos returned to direct. RDJ’s casting as Doom — rather than as Tony Stark — is being explained in-universe via the multiverse: Doom as a Stark variant from another timeline.
The Stones Are Cast · Final Scorecard Your Avengers Standing
💎
/ 8
A worthy Avenger — or dusted in the snap?
However, 2016's Civil War took things even further with the introduction of the Sokovia Accords and superhero regulation. This resulted in major divisions between the Avengers, with Captain America and Iron Man leading each side in a conflict that had major ramifications for the subsequent Avengers movies that followed. Combined with a deeply personal vendetta from Baron Zemo and the debuts of both Black Panther and Spider-Man, Captain America: Civil War is both the best movie in Steve Rogers' trilogy, while also being one of the best MCU movies of all time.
Logan (2017)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Wolverine each explored different sides of Hugh Jackman's most iconic role, though it was James Mangold's Logan in 2017 that truly shone as an exceptional farewell to the character (despite Jackman being brought back for the MCU's Deadpool & Wolverine).
Set in a dark future where mutants are nearly extinct and the X-Men are no more, Logan struggles with a failing healing factor while trying to take care of Professor Charles Xavier (who's suffering from a degenerative brain disease with brutal psychic seizures). The movie also features young Dafne Keen as Laura, aka X-23, a clone of Logan who's effectively his daughter. By the movie's end, Logan definitely stands as one of the most emotionally gripping and devastating superhero movies of all time, far surpassing its predecessors by miles.
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming established Tom Holland's Peter Parker as a young hero desperately wanting to do more in the wake of Civil War, while 2019's Far From Home saw Spider-Man grappling with Iron Man's death in Avengers: Endgame. However, Spider-Man: No Way Home is easily the best in the MCU's first Spider-Man trilogy, having the most spectacle and emotional resonance by far.
Obviously, the third MCU Spider-Man movie stands above by featuring villains from past Spider-Man movie franchises/realities in the multiverse, along with both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's previous live-action Spider-Men. This was the result of a magical spell from Doctor Strange gone wrong in an effort to undo Peter Parker's identity being exposed to the world by Mysterio in Far From Home.
The return of Maguire and Garfield (and their foes) makes No Way Home a wonderful celebration of Spider-Man's cinematic history, not just in the MCU alone. However, there's also some solidly emotional payoff and major sacrifice that places No Way Home above its predecessors as well.
Avatar: Fire & Ash (2025)
James Cameron's original Avatar film introduced audiences to the wonders and beauty of Pandora with the most groundbreaking visual effects and a truly immersive alien world. Likewise, The Way of Water brilliantly expanded the world while creating major new stakes for Jake Sully and his Na'vi family. However, 2025's Avatar Fire & Ash surpasses them both by building on both previous entries for one of the most intense conflicts between the Na'vi people and the RDA yet.
Not only that, but the tense family dynamics in the wake of Jake and Neytiri losing their oldest son in The Way of Water are on full display. There's also the introduction of the Ash People, creating far more complicated cultural tensions between the Na'vi than were seen in the previous two films. Overall, the result is a much bigger and more emotionally charged chapter, a solid and massively ambitious trilogy ender regardless of where Cameron's franchise goes next.
- Release Date
- December 19, 2025
- Runtime
- 197 Minutes
- Director
- James Cameron
- Writers
- Amanda Silver, Rick Jaffa, James Cameron, Josh Friedman, Shane Salerno
- Producers
- Jon Landau, James Cameron
-
Jake Sully
-
Neytiri
Avatar: Fire and Ash is a 2025 science fiction film continuing the saga of Pandora. Jake Sully and Neytiri confront a formidable new enemy, the Ash People, led by Varang. Struggling with personal loss and external threats, they strive to protect their family and Pandora's future.
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